Letters to the Editor June 30, 2012

With regionalization, people will not want to move here

I sent the following letter to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors:

As your Board may know, the Del Norte Association of Realtors, per its Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice obligations, is to be a liaison for the general public concerning real estate matters. It has come to our attention that in this capacity as “watch dog” ensuring the well-being of our community, that the process of “regionalization” currently under way where control of Sutter Coast Hospital is being shifted from the Sutter Coast Hospital Board of Directors to Sutter Health and its Sutter West Bay Hospital Board of Directors, is definitely not in the best interests of our citizenry.

As Realtors, it is our job to continually promote our community and
stimulate commerce through offering local real estate. In this endeavor,
we are constantly appealing to different factions who are considering
what to buy and certainly, where to buy. The retirement faction is an
integral portion of the target market for local real estate. This group
of people is usually financially stable and they provide a very small
drain on governmental resources. The need for good medical services is
the most important issue that we hear from these prospective purchasers.
In addition to our concern for the local denizens, what are we going to
tell people who want to come here if our hospital is converted to a
critical access hospital? Not only will well-established aging people be
inclined to want to sell and leave, but new prospects for our beautiful
area will not be inclined to move here due to the lack of sufficient
health care.

This issue is important to everyone who may need health care services
in Del Norte County. Please do whatever is necessary to keep Sutter
Coast Hospital local with a local governing Board. It would be a “black
eye” for our entire community to have our hospital change from its
current capacity to only offering enough beds to temporarily serve
people before they are transported to other full-service hospitals. We
do not want to go backwards; we want to go forward and provide ever
better care for our populace.

Donna Zorn

Crescent City

Democrats and Republicans alike under Islamic threat

Peter Friedman, a Vietnam veteran who worked for the U.S. Defense
Department and undercover for the FBI for over 20 years, gave a
remarkable speech at the fairgrounds on Saturday, June 23. He has
studied the Koran for over 40 years and he spoke about what he sees as
the grave global threat of Islam. His website is www.islamthreat.com.

He mentioned the dangers of Sharia law and the incursion of Islam
into the U.S. and elsewhere around the world, including a large mosque
down in Santa Clara that he said had adjacent offices for Hamas and al
Qaeda.

Elsewhere, remarkably, Governor Christie of New Jersey has appointed a
Muslim to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Correspondingly, the
second-largest mosque in the country is in New Jersey.

Of course, a big concern about Islam is its treatment of women. With
this in mind, I distributed some fliers around town prior to the speech.
Since the speech was presented by the Tea Party, I ran into some heavy
opposition when I visited the Democratic Party headquarters to deliver a
flier about the event.

I believe that Islam is a threat to Democrats and Republicans alike.
We all need to be better informed.

Robert Sankus

Crescent City

Sutter Coast should merge with hospitals in Oregon

With the recent articles about Curry Health Network and Sutter Coast
Hospital in financial troubles, I can’t help but to bring this up.

This is the prefect opportunity for each entity to approach Rogue
Valley Medical Center and Providence Medford Medical Center for a
possible merger or partnership. Since both hospitals work closely with
frequent patient transfers for a higher level of care up to Medford, it
would be in everyone’s best interest.

Sutter Coast doesn’t need mother Sutter. Now is the time for both
Crescent City and Gold Beach to take the win-win step forward for all.